


Of Snapshots and Surprise Parties

by Iliascorvus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Fluff, M/M, The seven and Reyna are there too, theyre mortal in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 15:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7514353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iliascorvus/pseuds/Iliascorvus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"When Nico di Angelo walked through his front door on his seventeenth birthday, he hadn’t expected much. Maybe a cake, a card, a few balloons. A night spent marathoning crime shows or cartoons with Hazel and his father, who, hopefully, would have made sure to get off work in time for them to have a family dinner. Nothing big, nothing special."</i> </p>
<p>Or, Nico's friends throw him a surprise party, and cake and gifts aren't the only surprises.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Snapshots and Surprise Parties

Nico stepped through the doorway and tried to blink the afternoon glare from the California sun out of his eyes. The darkness inside the house was unexpected, but not unusual. His father’s job at the funeral home meant he worked strange hours, and Hazel often stayed after school to work on her art projects.

Enough light shone through the windows that Nico didn’t feel the need to reach for the light switch, just tossed his backpack near the staircase and headed further into the darkness.

He felt. Odd. Anxiousness had crept down his spine as he’d walked down the dark hallway, the emptiness in front of him felt charged with anticipation, waiting for the best moment to strike. He thought the air smelled vaguely of sugar, but dismissed it. He was hungry, of course he would think it smelled like food. 

Nico cursed himself for not turning a light on when he could see as he tried to find a light switch in the pitch black of the kitchen. He stumbled along the wall until his foot hit something solid, and he would have continued on his way with the assumption that something inanimate had been left there (it happened all the time) until whatever- _whoever_ it was let out a soft “ouch” and clapped a hand over Nico’s eyes. 

He got halfway through the thought that today, _of course_ , would be the day he got murdered by a burglar in his own home, when his assailant grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him toward the center of the room. The hand let go of his face. The lights flashed on. Nico’s panicked brain was racing desperately to catch up with what he was seeing when- 

“SURPRISE!” 

* * *

When Nico di Angelo walked through his front door on his seventeenth birthday, he hadn’t expected much. Maybe a cake, a card, a few balloons. A night spent marathoning crime shows or cartoons with Hazel and his father, who, hopefully, would have made sure to get off work in time for them to have a family dinner. Nothing big, nothing special. 

Now, confetti is covering his shoulders, is stuck in his hair, as he’s pulled into a hug by his closest friends. So many balloons cover the ceiling that the light shines through the room in a multitude of bright colors. 

Hazel giggles as she balances a paper crown on Nico’s head, and Reyna grins and slings her arm over his shoulders. Piper manages to cajole everyone towards the kitchen table, covered with enough food to feed an army and dominated by one of the biggest cakes Nico had ever seen.

Nico is deposited in a chair, and the others start to sing as Leo lights a sparkler set in the middle of the cake. Nico catches glimpses of his father standing at the back of the crowd, a fond look on his usually stern face. 

At the end of the song Nico blew out the candles, smiled for Frank’s camera, and used the time the others took to sit down to see exactly who the culprits responsible for this surprise party were. Annabeth, Percy, Piper, and Jason all wore matching grins as they debated the seating arrangements. Hazel cut the cake and smiled as Leo chattered at her side. Frank and Reyna appraise the image on Frank’s camera. A blond head appeared over Frank’s shoulder, and Nico’s thought process ground to a halt. 

“Is that Will?,” Nico exclaimed, “What are you-”

“Dude,” Leo interrupted. “Cake now, reunions later. I’ve been waiting weeks for this!”

“Who even invited you Valdez?” Nico made a face at him and turned to the others. “Weeks? How long have you been planning this for?”

“About two and a half weeks, I think,” Annabeth replied. “Will masterminded the whole thing, and we got everything prepared while he figured out how to get here from New York in time.” 

“Seriously?” Nico gawked at Will. “How did you even get their contact information?”

“Hazel gave them to me.” Will smiled and conceded. 

"Yes, I did.” Hazel grinned and elbowed Nico from his other side. “I wanted my brother to have fun on his birthday. Now dig in! I spent all afternoon making this food and I am determined to make sure you enjoy it!” 

It was unanimously agreed that the food was delicious, much to Hazel’s delight, and conversation from then on was reduced to appreciative moans and bursts of laughter when Leo somehow ended up with his cake on his head.

They dragged out games next, and Nico had to question if he’d ever laughed so hard in his life. Percy and Jason’s combined enthusiasm for pin the tail on the donkey made even Reyna burst into laughter. Twister led to a few minor injuries, and a few compromising positions that Leo wolf whistled at and Piper punched him for. Annabeth and Piper destroyed their boyfriends at Just Dance until the boys opted to throw fair play out the window, and the game dissolved into a pillow fight. Eventually they abandoned trying to play the games and danced to the music. Nico tried to get away as subtly as he could, but got intercepted before he could go far. 

“You’re the dancing queen this year Nico.” Piper grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the makeshift dance floor. “We’re not letting you get away without having a little fun!” 

She shoved him forward and he stumbled into Will’s shoulder. Will laughed as he reached out to steady them, and Nico hoped that the blush he could feel working its way onto his face wasn’t as visible as it felt. 

Will bowed with a flourish and gave Nico a mischievous smile. “So, birthday boy, may I have this dance?”

Nico grinned and held out his hand. “You’re such a nerd Solace.”

Will’s smile grew even wider, and he whisked Nico into a dramatic imitation of a tango, twirling him around the room until they were both laughing too hard to keep going.

* * *

When Will found him at the edge of the celebration later, the easy happiness on Will’s face had been replaced by something more shifting and anxious. He gave Nico a small smile as Nico noticed the newspaper wrapped gift in his hands. 

"I know the others said gifts would come later, but I wanted to give you this now,” Will said, as he handed the gift to Nico. 

He had a sort of tentative confidence in his voice that Nico wasn’t really sure how to respond, other than, “Thank you.” 

Will smiled at that, then stammered out an _“I’ll see you later, I guess?”_ before disappearing back towards the others. 

Nico turned the gift over in his hands, picked a corner and tore the wrapping off. He found a thick black book, the glossy cover and stiff pages looked new and expensive. Inside were dozens upon dozens of photographs, many with notes in Will’s curly handwriting. 

Nico smiled at a picture of a gap-toothed Will with a paper pirate hat and a water gun, manning the helm of Nico’s cardboard box pirate ship as Nico and Bianca chucked water balloons at each other in the background. 

Another, of Will and Nico sitting on the front porch of Will’s old house as movers carried boxes out the door. They had their fingers linked in a pinky promise. Nico remembered that day, and all the promises they had made to each other. _“We’ll send each other letters all the time! Just because I’m moving doesn’t mean we have to stop being friends!”_ Will had said. Nico hadn’t realized Will’s mother had been watching. 

The next page was a collage of skype calls, screenshots from all the years they’d maintained their long distance friendship after Will had moved across the country. He could see one where a younger Nico was dressed in a mismatched costume, dramatically reenacting a scene from one of Will’s favorite movies. 

Will had laughed for an age after that, and Nico had reveled in the pure glee in his smile. Nico would do anything to make Will smile. The grainy image on his computer screen always seemed like a strange, diluted version of Will, but nothing had ever been able to dull his smile. 

It had been during a skype call that Nico realized he was in love.

The warm, fluttery feeling bloomed in his chest as he flipped through the rest of the album, and he savored the happiness he felt looking at the pictures. They were snapshots of his life, collected and then carefully crafted into a memento of his happiest moments. 

Nico was about to close the book when a bright blue envelope, hidden in the blank pages of the life he hadn’t lived yet, caught his attention. It was addressed to him, in the handwriting Will used when something was important. 

Nico tore it open. 

* * *

He found Will on the back porch, his head resting in his hands as he watched the trees wave in the night breeze. Nico almost stayed where he was. His impulsive plan seemed more daunting now that Will was in sight, but the letter in his hands was making his heart beat fast and his head light. 

Will jumped a bit when Nico sat down next to him, too stuck in his own head to realize he wasnt alone on the small balcony. 

“Hi,” Nico said. “It’s nice out tonight.”

“Yeah.” Will smiled. “It really is.”

“Thank you. For the photo album.”

“Do you like it?”

“I do! It’s really amazing. Thank you, Will,” Nico replied. He paused. “I read your letter.”

“Oh,” Will’s smile faltered. The look in his eyes was like a man on trial, the final verdict about to be read to him. “You- you don’t have to say anything about it if you don’t want to, I just- I wanted you to know. I love you, Nico. I have for a long time.” Will ducked his head, the tips of his ears tinged pink. 

Nico tried and failed to fight the smile off his face at hearing Will say it out loud. “I do too,” Nico said, “I love you too.”

“Seriously?” Will looked awestruck, and the smile Nico adored had returned full force. “Oh my god, I could kiss you! Can I kiss you?”

Nico replied by burying his hands in Will’s hair, _god, it was as soft as it looked_ , and pulling him closer. 

* * *

When Nico di Angelo walked through his front door on his seventeenth birthday, he hadn’t expected much. But the warmth of Will’s lips on his tasted like sugar and sunlight, and the dawning of a new day promised Nico the best years of his life shining over the horizon. 


End file.
